Hey all i268 maniacs!!! Things are beginning to slow up a little bit. after working a few days last week upon our return from south Texas we went to southwest Nebraska this last weekend. Normally that wouldn't be such a big deal except that I am from there. Yes we got a chance to stay at my house on Friday night and spent Saturday doing some 'housekeeping' as a group and saw where I grew up and went to school and spent my happy days working. I don't know if the rest of the group enjoyed it as immensely as I did, but it was a joy for me to show my best friends where I had come from.

We performed a concert on Saturday night in the Grant City Park in the bandshell (which was a righteous blast and the first of it's kind in Grant) and afterward we drove to Hamlet, NE (about 50 miles due southeast) and stayed with host families there overnight. We got up the next morning and set up at Hamlet Union Church, home church of Tabor College's very own Ashley McKillip (whooooohoooooo!!!!!). After the 11 AM worship service (which was an extremely joyful experience), we packed back up and hit the pavement towards Hays, KS. It was amazing for me to see how vibrant and alive the church in Hamlet was being a town of 45 people or so and having a thriving congregation of almost 150. It was such a blessing to be involved in there worship experience. Oh, and Pastor Matt Hoffman asked me to pass along to any ministry minded internship hunters from Tabor College and the like that the Hamlet Union Church would thoroughly enjoy a student looking them up and applying for an internship there. There is definitely divine work of the Holy Spirit going on in that congregation.

When we arrived in Hays, we went straight to the church. I had performed there a year and a half ago when the choir stopped through on the way to Denver and California, but I had no knowledge of the church's recent expansion. They have erected a beautiful new sanctuary facility. Now they are effectively ready to expand their membership beyond the capacity of their old sanctuary. It was a great joy to see a few of the young kids that were at Junior Camp when it was here at Tabor a month ago. We performed another worship style program there and spent some time afterward visiting with the congregation and getting to know them a bit better over some great cookies and lemonade. It was a blast.

After that we packed up and headed back for the 'Boro, thoroughly exhausted. The van was extremely quiet all the way back for 150 miles. All in all, the weekend was an extremely fun and rewarding experience. We learned a lot about each other in our group and I believe we are going to be developing deeper and deeper bonds within the group and our friendships will now begin to thrive beyond our comprehension.

Scripture Passage to study: Luke 4:16-21 "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it was written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began by saying to them, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

That was the scripture passage that Trent spoke from in Hamlet on Sunday morning and it was splendid. The Lord spoke to me through him. Thank you Trent for your study and your inspiration to dig into scripture.

Have a great week everyone. Keep praying for us as we travel to North Carolina starting Thursday morning and please continue to pray for Marilyn Regier from Grant in concern to her healing elbow. I got to see her twice this weekend and she is doing extremely well, but she will have to have the brace on there a long time in order to let the screws and bones and such heal the right way. God bless!!!! May God guard you and your families with a jealous heart and keep you safe in your comings and goings!!!